As the 2008 cross country season began it became apparent that there was a lack of D3 coverage on Flotrack. D1 meets and runners are covered semi regularly, and there was already a weekly article on D2, however the NCAA’s third division (which is also its largest) lacks any type of regular coverage. So I begin my quest to bring to you a recap of the previous weekend’s meets every week, and at least every other week an interview with one of the division’s top runners or coaches. My hope is that everyone can gain a little insight about what it means to be a D3 athlete, and if anyone has suggestion for how the article can be improved, or people I should interview, it will always be appreciated.

Now onto the good stuff. This past weekend offered up the first taste of the collegiate cross country season, with many teams across the country competing in their opening meets. There were rivalry dual meets, and early bird invites a plenty, but the divisions defending champions Amherst Women, and NYU men were idle, so it will be at least another week until they begin their respective title defenses.

Enough about last year, the USTFCCCA preseason rankings came out this past week and some familiar faces as well as some new ones are at the top. Here is how they look. 

 D3 Preseason Rankings

MEN 1 SUNY Cortland (NY) (8) A 280 2 Calvin College (MI) GL 269 3 Wisconsin-La Crosse MW 266 4 Wisconsin-Stevens Point MW 256 5 Carnegie Mellon University (PA) ME 246 6 Williams College (MA) NE 237 7 North Central College (IL) MW 234 8 Amherst College (MA) NE 220 9 Ohio Northern University GL 207 10 Augustana College (IL) MW 205 11 Haverford College (PA) ME 204 12 Nebraska Wesleyan University C 194 13 Wisconsin-Oshkosh MW 182 14 Allegheny College (PA) ME 180 15 Trinity College (CT) NE 163 16 Heidlberg College (OH) GL 154 16 Luther College (IA) C 154 18 SUNY Geneseo (NY) A 145 19 Willamette University (OR) W 144 20 Keene State College (NH) NE 121 21 Dickinson College (PA) ME 120 22 College of New Jersey A 110 23 Washington University (MO) MW 99 24 Case Western Reserve University (OH) GL 96 25 St. Olaf University (MN) C 92 26 New York University A 78 27 Massachusetts Institute of Technology NE 64 28 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College (CA) W 62 29 University of Texas- Tyler S 52 29 Brandeis University (MA) NE 52 31 Mount Union College (OH) GL 47 32 Johns Hopkins University (MD) ME 41 33 Saint Lawrence University (NY) A 18 34 Bethel College (MN) C 13 34 Wisconsin-Eau Claire MW 13

WOMEN 1 Amherst College (MA) - (8) NE 280 2 Luther (IA) C 265 3 Wisconsin Eau Claire MW 263 4 Calvin College (MI) GL 259 5 SUNY Geneseo (NY) A 252 6 Washington University (MO) MW 238 7 Depauw University (IN) GL 232 8 Williams College (MA) NE 218 9 Wisconsin-Platteville MW 213 10 Case Western (OH) GL 202 11 Ithaca College (NY) A 197 12 Colby College (ME) NE 196 13 Wartburg College (IA) C 189 14 Middlebury College (VT) NE 177 15 College of New Jersey A 164 16 Wisconsin-LaCrosse MW 161 17 Johns Hopkins (MD) ME 148 18 Willamette University (OR) W 138 19 Emory University (GA) SE 136 20 Loras (IA) C 126 21 Wisconsin-Oshkosh MW 124 22 SUNY Cortland (NY) A 103 23 St. Thomas (MN) C 99 24 Whitman College (WA) W 92 25 MIT NE 84 26 Oberlin (OH) GL 79 27 Swarthmore College (PA) ME 68 28 Wheaton (IL) MW 60 28 Kenyon (OH) GL 60 30 Nebraska Wesleyan C 51 31 Brockport (NY) A 43 32 Washington & Lee SE 37 33 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CA) W 25 34 Bowdoin (ME) NE 21 35 Allegheny (PA) ME 16 35 Trinity Univ. (TX) SE 16

 

Both number ones were unanimous, as Amherst women look to defend their 2007 title and SUNY Cortland on the men's side, begins their quest for the 2008 National Title under a new coach. It is extremely unlikely that the final polls will look identical to these (I will set the odd at 500,000:1), so I am curious to know how everyone thinks the poll will look in November. If you have any guesses for at least the podium, feel free to post them below in the comments section.

Although only 5 teams from a region can qualify for nationals, which will take place in Hanover, Indiana, a few regions boast more than this number on the preseason national poll. The Midwest leads all regions with 13 total teams on the two polls, 7 on the men’s and 6 on the women’s followed closely by New England which boasts 6 teams on each, however keep in mind that while the poll includes 35 teams, the starting line in Hanover will only include 32. All 8 regions were represented on each poll, although the South only had one men’s team in the top 35, but will be granted at least 2 teams, via the automatic qualifying process (look to Emory just off the poll receiving votes). As for conferences well represented, the Wisconsin Public schools have 4 on each poll, while the University Athletic Association boasts 5 on the men’s and 3 on the women’s.

Now that the preseason stuff is out of the way, lets take a look at how the first weekend of the regular season went. Many of the top 35 were off, and many of the teams that did race, did not race their full squads, but lets look at what happened anyhow.

 

Women’s

The 6^th ranked Washington University Bears, hosted their early bird 4k meet finishing 5^th behind competition including Division 1 Marquette and their own Alumni Team. 

UAA foe Case Western Reserve University, ranked 10^th won their home invitational the Bill Sudeck invitational as they begin a new phase after the graduation of Multi-time All American/ 10,000 meter NCAA champion Esther Erb. Behind Case was 26^th ranked Oberlin College in second, and 35^th ranked Allegheny in third.

27^th Ranked Swarthmore finished second at the Delaware Valley College invite, behind d3 and Centennial Conference rival Ursinus College.

Kenyon College ranked 29^th, bested the field at the Wooster College Invite.

32^nd ranked Washington & Lee led the field at Virginia Wesleyan Blue Marlin Invite

A few other teams in the top 35 including TCNJ had intra-squad scrimmages or alumni meets, and if any other ranked teams competed and I missed them, my apologies, these are what were available on the school’s athletic department pages.

 

Men’s

Earning their highest ranking in program history the 5^th ranked Carnegie Mellon Tartans competed at the Duquesne Duals. Although official results have not been posted, CMU had to have acquired at least one loss, since the host Dukes went 8-0 according to their athletics website.

North Central ranked 7^th took second to Northwestern at the Bassett Creek Invite

10^th ranked Augustana took 9 of the top 10 spots en route to winning their home invitational on a 4-mile road course.

14^th ranked Allegheny finished second to 24^th ranked Case Western Reserve University at Case’s own Bill Sudeck Classic

16^th Ranked Heidlberg lost a close dual meet 28-27 to Tiffin College

Washington University ranked 23^rd finished fourth at their home early bird invite, finishing behind teams including division 1 Marquette and their own Alumni team.

Rounding out the ranked teams competing this past weekend, 29^th ranked Brandeis University took on their cross-town rival in division 2 Bentley College, defeating the Falcons 19-42 in this dual meet over a 5900-meter course.

 

Again if I missed any results I apologize.

 

Well that’s that for the first weekend in D3 XC for the 2008 season. Look out every week for this column on the latest in D3 news and results.  I hope you enjoyed, but feel free to let me know what I can do to improve the article for you. Also look out for the first interview after next weekend’s action.